BILL NUMBER: SB 193 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 6, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 23, 2009
An act to add and repeal Section 52124.2 of the Education Code,
relating to class size reduction, and declaring the urgency thereof,
to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 193, as amended, Lowenthal. Class size reduction: Long Beach
Unified School District.
Existing law allows a school district that maintains kindergarten
or grades 1 to 3, inclusive, to apply to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction for an apportionment to implement a K-3 Class Size
Reduction Program. The purpose of the program is to ensure that
instruction is received in classrooms where there are not more than
20 pupils. The Controller is required to deduct an amount equal to
the amount received by the school district for class size reduction
from the district's next principal apportionment or apportionments of
state funds if the district does not implement its class size
reduction program for all grades and classes for which it received
funding.
This bill would allow authorize the
Superintendent to approve funding for the Long Beach
Unified School District to claim funding for a K-3 Class
Size Reduction Program for the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11,
and 2011-12 school years based upon enrollment counts before
mandatory closures on Catalina Island resulting from the October
2007 fire and resultant debris flow hazard due to weather-related
conditions if specified criteria are met. The district also would be
allowed to claim funding for a class size reduction program
if the class size exceeds 20 pupils, or the class is housed with
another class, and specified criteria are met , including
criteria relating to closures on Catalina Island resulting from the
May 2007 fires and resultant debris flow hazard due to
weather-related conditions . These provisions would become
inoperative on July 1, 2012, and would be repealed on January 1,
2013.
This bill would state the findings and declarations of the
Legislature concerning the need for special legislation.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 52124.2 is added to the Education Code, to
read:
52124.2. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,
the Long Beach Unified School District may claim funding pursuant to
this chapter for the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 school
years based on enrollment counts before the closures on Catalina
Island resulting from the October 2007 fire and resultant debris flow
hazard due to weather-related conditions, if the following criteria
are met:
(1) The school district submits to the Superintendent a "Request
for Allowance of Attendance Because of Emergency Conditions" pursuant
to Section 46392 and the emergency conditions were caused by a
mandatory closure or closures.
(2) The school district certifies that it suffered a loss of
enrollment in classes because of a mandatory closure or closures.
(b)
52124.2 (a) Notwithstanding any other
provision of this chapter, the Superintendent may approve
funding for the Long Beach Unified School District may
claim funding pursuant to this chapter for the 2008-09,
2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 school years for classes in which the
K-3 Class Size Reduction Program is implemented that either exceed 20
pupils or are housed with another class, if the following conditions
are met:
(1) The school district certifies that the number of pupils
enrolled in a district school increased as a direct result of the
closures on Catalina Island resulting from the October
May 2007 fire and resultant debris flow hazard
due to weather-related conditions, and this growth increased the
number of pupils enrolled in classes in which the K-3 Class Size
Reduction Program is implemented.
(2) The school district certifies that it lacked sufficient
classroom space or credentialed teachers to accommodate the
enrollment increase from the closures on Catalina Island resulting
from the October 2007 fire and resultant debris flow hazard due to
weather-related conditions.
(c)
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1,
2012, and as of January 1, 2013, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 2. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that due to
unique circumstances relating to the Long Beach Unified School
District, a general statute cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to provide timely essential relief to the Long Beach
Unified School District that may experience a loss of state funding
as a result of mandatory fire and weather-related school closings on
Catalina Island, it is necessary that this bill take effect
immediately.